


Promises Unkept

by Drake



Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Vent Writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-15 23:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11241087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drake/pseuds/Drake
Summary: Adam Jensen is spotted in an infiltration, and there are...consequences. He was prepared for any danger to himself - but it's not himself he has to worry about this time.





	Promises Unkept

**Author's Note:**

> I've been having a rough week and wanted to hurt Malik. Sue me.

Faridah Malik waits on the rooftop, hands on her joysticks and watching her radar and the door like a hawk. Normally, well, normally she waited nearby and flew over whenever her client needed a pickup, whoever it was that Sarif was flying around that week, or Sarif himself. But after the attack on Sarif Industries, after the deaths of their top researchers, after Malik had been too far and by the time she found the burned out lab they were looking only for corpses—well. When Adam needs her to take him somewhere, needs to infiltrate something illegally…she doesn’t want to be far. He’s come running out hot before, bullets pinging off her plane behind him, and knowing him he’d only call once he was on the rooftop and sure that there wasn’t an ambush waiting up there. Expose himself to danger and risk and. His death can’t be on her shoulders, not when she saw them carry his body past, charred and gutted and a _hole in his skull._ Sarif had said something similar, though he’d reinforced that this wasn’t meant to be at the cost of her own safety. Adam Jensen was something different now. He could handle himself.

Still. She felt better watching the roof and waiting for him, bay door half open. He could launch into it if he’d been seen down below by security, or she could shut it quickly and escape until he got up to her if she needed to. She sits alert, straight and adrenaline rushing through in a wave whenever the smallest thing changes. Always ready.

The alarm ringing sharp still manages to surprise her, somehow. A call to her InfoLink, and she’s on emergency shutdown – only Sarif or Adam could-

“Malik. I’ve been seen, I’m coming in hot.” Gunshots and noise, the alarm shriller and sharper through the call.

“Copy that. Engines are fired and ready.”

He leaves the line open. Just in case she needs to get in contact, needs to pull away. Her eyes fixate on the door, the staircase and the elevator in one jutting protrusion from the smooth roof. Either Adam will come out first, or they’ll figure out where he’s running and beat him there. She can only hope it’s the former. Doesn’t have any sort of weapons on her. As if Sarif could purchase weaponized planes without bringing the media down on himself. All of this is illegal enough as it is, but he needs to find the researchers’ murderers, and Adam wants revenge. Malik just wants to make sure Adam doesn’t kill himself in the process.

This laser-focus distracts her from noticing the boxguard that activates in the dark recess of the roof. She’s waiting to react to the door and the heat of her engines masks its presence on her radar. Until a blast of gunfire rips through the cockpit, glass shattering and she shouts, reaching for her knife.

What the fuck’s she going to do with a knife?

“Malik?! What’s happening?” He’s gone subvocal. Maybe he evaded them for the moment. Hoped he could lose them and get to the roof without endangering her.

“Boxguard.” Is all she says. “Shot through my controls.” A deep inhale, closing her eyes. She could fix it, she could. But getting out of her seat and reaching for the controls- she has to. Unbuckling fast and diving forward as it shoots again. It’s seen her now, thought it was shooting on an autopiloted plane before, maybe.

“Get out of there!” Adam’s voice a sharp bark in her head. He moves louder, no longer quiet.

“Can’t. No cover on the roof and my bird’s dead. I’m working on it.” Using her knife to jam open the panel from the inside. No time to reach for proper tools and flinching back as it sparks. What had it damaged, what could she do without?

“I’m coming-“ he’s interrupted by another hail of bullets, louder than his voice was. Glass showers over her shoulders and her flightsuit maybe tears. She doesn’t notice. One goal then the next. Either the plane held together or it didn’t. Either Adam came or he didn’t. No point worrying. Focus on what she _could_ do.

Pulling severed wires back together, and there’s more noise on the roof now. Adam? Or the building’s security? The boxguard screeches mechanical fury and she hopes it’s the former.

So the louder screech of metal is a total surprise, as is the sudden force on her spine. Shoved down hard by metal and she thinks it’s Adam and then her ribs snap, loud and she cries out sharp. Hand still on her knife-

“ _Faridah_?!”

Trying to writhe under it and the pressure keeps mounting. A choked sob interrupted bloody, a lance of agony and she feels something pierce, pop and flood and she’s going to drown. Stabbing her knife into the servos on its leg, trying to puncture hydraulics and lock it up-

“ ** _Fari_** -“

Her augs fall silent under the pounding in her ears and she chokes as her infolink shuts off, her radar goes dark. Blood bubbling from her lips and the wave of darkness is sudden, fast and unavoidable.

He didn’t come.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah uh...lol sorry. This isn't my usual brand of writing (fuck, I'm usually all here for the hurt/comfort) but its been bouncing in my head all day and I've had less than six hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, so... here you go. Apologies for any errors. 
> 
> Maybe if I'm feeling better I'll go back and add a comfort chapter.


End file.
